Stampeders have uncanny success rate following bye weeks

IAN BUSBY, For the Calgary Herald07.09.2014

Stamps quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell throws just above the giant leap of Montreal’s Jerald Brown during their season opener on June 28. Calgary hasn’t played since and is set to get back into action against Toronto this Saturday.

There is a stat the Calgary Stampeders are carrying this week, the type of trend gamblers love to focus on.

Since 2008, the year John Hufnagel took over as the Stamps GM-head coach, this team is a sparkling 6-0 when coming off a regular-season bye week.

The combination of a week’s rest, more time for the coaches to prepare and a refocused attitude seems to suit the Stamps just perfectly.

So should we betting the mortgage payment on Saturday’s meeting with the Toronto Argonauts?

“I bet on us to win every week,” said fullback Rob Cote. “Now thinking back, it’s hard to believe we did it every time. I remember us being rested and refocused and the coaches have extra time to prepare. We have one of if not the best coaching staff in the league. When they get extra time, we’re pretty effective.”

This season is different from the past six though.

With the CFL back to being a nine-team loop, one team is left without a dance partner every week, and the Stamps drew Week 2, leaving the June 28 season opener to feel more like pre-season than regular season.

Since the Ottawa Renegades folded after the 2005 season, the CFL went to a system where half the league took a bye around Weeks 6-8. It seemed like an ideal time for a break. A month of training camp, followed by six to seven weeks of games and then a rest.

This year, the Stamps beat the Montreal Alouettes, then many players went home for a holiday.

“I didn’t like it,” said Stamps offensive co-ordinator and assistant head coach Dave Dickenson. “Then again . . . I was able to enjoy some summer. That doesn’t usually happen.

“As an offence guy, I don’t love a bye week. Football players are really schedule people and it gets you out of a rhythm. We didn’t mind the break for our injury situation but having a break after one game is not ideal.”

Typically with Hufnagel-led teams, there might be a slow start, but when the coaching staff gets a week off to assess what it has, install some new plays and tweak the system more than a normal practice week, the Stamps come out flying out of the break. It didn’t matter if the team was the road, as four of the six wins were away from McMahon Stadium.

Another difference between this year and the past six seasons is the opposing team in this case isn’t coming off a bye week as well.

If the Stamps showed rust after time off, likely their opponent experienced the same thing.

“With this one here, we had a week to watch them play,” said Stamps middle linebacker Juwan Simpson. “It’s so early that you don’t know what you are going to get from the other team. It’s different in Week 8 or 9. With that being said, coaches come together with great game plans. They sit in the office all day dreaming it up.”

Dickenson admits the extra time to prepare is a factor. There is a chance to add some new wrinkles to the game plan, to let the system evolve a bit more, but the mental break for the coaches is a big factor too.

“For a coach, you are more energetic,” Dickenson said. “You’ve had a little break yourself. We do change. We do what we do but we never at stay static.

“We never give you a bunch of the same plays over and over. We store stuff. At the end of the year, it’s hard to come up with new thoughts.

“We do get extra time to prepare. To me, you should be able to throw in new plays and new ideas as long as your guys are into it. You should have some things the defence hasn’t seen. Your defence gets a chance to add new things too. If the other team hasn’t had a chance to see what you are doing, it should be an advantage.”

The notion that the Stamps get a chance to heal up after a bye week might not be exactly true this week. They head into Toronto without two of their best players as running back Jon Cornish (concussion) and receiver Maurice Price (broken finger) are out.

Two years ago, Cornish had a huge breakout game coming out of the bye week. He struggled during the first five games in his first full season as a starter, then exploded for 217 yards from scrimmage in Hamilton.

If the Stamps do emerge victorious in Toronto — a place they usually have trouble — someone else will be the hero.

“We’ve had a chance to dial in again,” Cote said. “I think it will help a lot.”

As for the bye being early this year — the next one isn’t until Week 16 — Cote doesn’t believe it will be a factor.

“After training camp, there was no such thing as too early,” Cote said. “If it was our only bye week, then it would be a different story. It’s good. There is a long stretch of games anyway, so you might as well go into it fresh.”

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